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Incredible Burger

Court Rules That Nestlé’s ‘Incredible’ Burger Name Infringes on Impossible

A European court ruled that Néstle must change the name of its Incredible burger because it infringes on Impossible’s trademarks, according to the Wall Street Journal. 

For now, the ruling only applies to European countries. Swiss CPG giant Néstle will change the name of its patty to Sensational Burger, which unfortunately doesn’t roll off the tongue quite as easily but also won’t potentially confuse customers — something the court cited in its ruling. 

According to the WSJ, Impossible claimed Nestlé was “trying to impede” its entry into the European market by using a similar name for its product.

A spokesperson for Néstle said that they believe “anyone should be able to use descriptive terms such as ‘incredible’ to explain the qualities of a product.” The company is planning to appeal the decision.

Néstle launched its Incredible meatless patty last year under its Garden Gourmet brand. The burger is made of soy and wheat protein and meat to compete with the new wave of plant-based meat companies, namely Beyond and Impossible. As of right now, Nestlé’s patty sells in 15 European countries as well as Australia, and in 2019 also landed in McDonald’s stores in Israel.

Impossible doesn’t actually sell its products in Europe yet. It filed with the EU in 2019 for regulatory approval. A spokesperson for the company last year told The Spoon that Impossible plans to “sell plant-based meat in every single region of the world.” That said, one of the hangups with Impossible getting its products in Europe is the company’s use of soy hemoglobin in its products, which is the molecule that gives the patties their “bleeding” flavor and appearance. As Catherine Lamb noted last year:

While technically heme isn’t genetically modified — it’s the output of genetically modified yeast — it could still throw up some red flags for the European Food Safety Authority.

Plant-based meat’s other major player, Beyond Meat, announced a new manufacturing facility in The Netherlands last year, and more recently said it would increase availability and speed for getting its products around Europe and the Middle East.

All of which is to say, the fight over Nestlés naming underscores how competitive the plant-based meat market has gotten recently. Even if Nestlé successfully appeals the court’s decision, the company has its work cut out in terms of carving out a dominant spot in the European alt-protein market.

 

McDonalds in Israel to Start Selling Nestlé’s Meatless Incredible Burger

Back in April McDonald’s in Germany began selling the Big Vegan TS, a plant-based burger made with Nestlé’s Incredible patty. In his piece on the news, author Chris asked: “will Nestlé be able to replicate this type of McDonald’s deal quickly and establish a stronghold in Europe before Beyond and Impossible can make a meaningful leap across the Atlantic?”

It’s looking more and more like the answer will be yes. Yesterday the Israeli publication Globes reported that McDonald’s Israel will start selling its own meatless burger featuring Nestlé’s Incredible patties. Called the Big Vegan, it will start off as a pilot in several locations in Tel Aviv in roughly six weeks. Pricing has not yet been revealed.

Switzerland-based Nestlé seems to be doing very well establishing itself in fast-food restaurants in Europe. What’s not as clear is if it will be able to break into the same market across the Atlantic. Nestlé is launching its plant-based Awesome burger in retail under its Sweet Earth brand this fall. Will there be an Awesome Big Mac in our future?

Probably not anytime soon. The U.S. contingent of its current fast food partner, McDonald’s, isn’t quite sold on plant-based meat yet. At its annual shareholder meeting last month, McDonald’s global chief marketing officer and menu director Silvia Lagnado said that the company was monitoring meat alternative options but didn’t yet have any plans to announce. “We obviously have to assess whether consumer demand [would be at a] level we believe would be sustained,” she said.

The consumer demand is certainly there right now. Chains like Del Taco, Burger King, and White Castle have all seen a spike in foot traffic after introducing products featuring plant-based meat from Impossible Foods or Beyond Meat.

At the same time, McDonald’s is selling more regular burgers than ever. Last year the fast-food chain decided to switch from frozen to fresh beef, and reportedly sold 40 million more quarter pounders in the U.S. in Q1 than it did a year ago. Maybe McDonald’s is thinking if it ain’t broke, why make it meatless?

Nonetheless, the buzzing popularity of plant-based meat is getting harder and harder to ignore. More and more fast-food chains — from Qdoba to Carl’s Jr. — are embracing meat alternatives. Eventually I’m betting that the pressure to introduce vegan options will become so great that McDonald’s will give in and put a plant-based burger on its menu. The real question is whether it will be from Nestlé or another alt-meat player.

McDonald’s (in Germany) Goes with Nestlé’s Incredible Burger for Vegan Option

When we write about fast food joints adding a plant-based burger option to its menu, it’s usually an Impossible or Beyond Meat plant-based patty. So it caught our eye when LiveKindly reported today that McDonald’s in Germany is making Nestlé’s Incredible Burger patty the center of its new Big Vegan TS.

The Incredible Burger, which in no way sounds like a knock-off of the Impossible burger, is Nestle’s take on a plant-based burger that looks and acts like traditional meat. On the surface, McDonald’s auf Deutsch’s move may seem like a snub of Impossible and Beyond, but it actually make sense and is something my co-worker, Catherine Lamb kinda saw coming back in December, when she wrote:

Impossible and Beyond may have a hold on the U.S. market, but they haven’t expanded much outside of the U.S. (yet). Nestlé would be smart to concentrate on the European market, where, despite several competitors like Moving Mountains and Naturli’ Foods, there’s still plenty of room for it to carve out its own space in the plant-based meat market. Given Nestlé’s size, it already has scale, manufacturing, and sales channels it can leverage to expand quickly.

So it’s understandable that the German McDonald’s would opt for the burger from neighboring Swiss company Nestlé. The question becomes: will Nestlé be able to replicate this type of McDonald’s deal quickly and establish a stronghold in Europe before Beyond and Impossible can make a meaningful leap across the Atlantic?

The McDonald’s news comes ahead of the impending Beyond Meat IPO, which could put added pressure on the company. Investors like to see growth, and getting boxed out of Europe before it’s even begun could be bad news. The bright side, however, is that Beyond announced today that it is going to be available in Belgium, and should Beyond’s IPO go well, it will have the warchest to fuel growth more aggressively into new markets.

The Big Vegan will be available in Germany starting April 29th. If you’re a German Spoon reader, let us know how it is!